Amazon had it's earnings call yesterday. Aside from disclosing the financials, Tom Szkutak, Amazon's CFO, said that Amazon was "considering" a price increase for it's Prime Service, of roughly $20-$40 per year. With Amazon's Prime service currently running $79 a year, a $20-$40 increase is a lot, a 25%-50% increase. No information was given about when the change would happen, but it is expected in the first half of 2014. The price increase is said to compensate for the rising fuel costs and shipping costs over the last 9 years.

Amazon Prime has not seen a price increase since it's inception 9 years ago. The service, which started off by giving customers free two-day shipping on over 1 million items, has since grown to include 19 million items, access to the Amazon Prime Instant Video and digital library for Kindle owners. Considering the value it provides for it's customers and the length of time the company has avoided an increase, it is not entirely shocking. What remains to be seen, is whether current Prime members will be grandfathered in at the current $79 price point.